Notes: The Yankees have lost three straight, the Orioles have won three straight. … Yankee pitching the last three games: 26 innings, 44 hits, 29 earned runs, 9 walks, 15 strikeouts, 7 home runs. … Chamberlain has allowed one run on 12 hits and struck out 17 in his last 13 innings.

WHO’S HOT: Derek Jeter has hit in 10 straight at 14 of 44 with six RBI, seven runs scored and six extra-base hits. … Johnny Damon is 8 of his last 22 with five RBI.

WHO’S NOT: What is with the strange fascination the Yankees have with Wilson Betemit? He is 9 of his last 44 with one extra-base hit, three RBI and 14 strikeouts. … Xavier Nady is 1 of 11 as a Yankee.

WELCOME HOME: Sarfate is a 27-year-old Queens native who has been with the Brewers, Astros and now the Orioles in three seasons. He is 5-1, 3.51 for his career. This will be his first major-league start. He was acquired as part of the Miguel Tejada trade.

HOW CAN THIS BE TRUE: The Yankees are 10-9 in games started by Darrell Rasner and Sidney Ponson.

LOCAL HERO: Bobby Abreu has 443 doubles. The record for a player born in Venezuela is 444 by Andres “Big Cat” Galarraga.

THE CLOCK IS TICKING: The non-waivers trade deadline is tomorrow at 4 p.m. Feel free to post your totally unrealistic trade idea. Everybody else seems to be. If you’re hoping to get a stud pitcher, be advised that you have to start with Austin Jackson or Phil Hughes and Brian Cashman isn’t going there.

Lots of updates today, check back later.

UPDATE, 11:20 a.m.: Jorge Posada is scheduled to have his shoulder surgery today. So good luck to him. The rehab is supposed to take six months. That would put him pretty close to being ready for when pitchers and catchers report. Obviously he will be used cautiously in spring training.

UPDATE, 11:24 p.m.: Sarfate’s longest stint this season was 3.1 innings on July 25. So it’ll be interesting to see how much he can gives the Orioles today. The Yankees will try and be patient and run up his pitch count. He has pitched well against the Yankees this season, allowing one hit and striking out six in four innings of work. He is sort of their Joba in that they’re transitioning him from the bullpen.

UPDATE, 12:08 p.m.: Ah, some scribes in Seattle are upset with reports about the Washburn trade. They’re blaming the evil New York media for the stories. Which is pretty amusing.

Baseball trades are largely about economics these days. If one team (say the Yankees) is willing to absord $14 million in salary, a second team (say the Mariners) can’t expect to get Melky Cabrera or anybody else with a pulse. You take the $14 million in salary relief and go sign the best lefty in Taiwan or a great shortstop from Venezuela or a good free agent this winter. That’s the benefit.

Why that is so complicated, I have no idea. Or you can keep Jarrod Washburn and still finish in last place and pay him. It’s not about the Yankees or the New York media. It’s about being smart.

UPDATE, 1:06 p.m.: Hideki Matsui worked out today. 25 cuts off a tee and 10 cuts of soft-toss. “I felt fine, no problem,” he said.

Matsui is wearing a brace for this round of rehab. It’s likely he will head down to Tampa when the team goes on the road on Monday.

UPDATE, 1:13 p.m.: And the ball game is over! Whenever The Big G makes a diving stop without hurting himself, the Yankees win the game. We have three hours left to see how it ends, but the Yankees will win.

UPDATE, 1:21 p.m.: Dennis Sarfate has a little giddy-up on his heater. He got Damon with a 95-mph pitch. But he has control issues and probably has no more than four innings in him. The Yankees need to be disciplined with their approach.

UPDATE, 1:24 p.m.: There you go, Jeter and Abreu draw walks.

UPDATE, 1:26 p.m.: Then A-Rod takes a strike and rips a pitch into right. Great slide by Abreu, who got his hand on the plate around the tag.

2-1 Yankees as The Big G defensive indicator kicks in.

UPDATE, 1:28 p.m.: He got Giambi with a 97-mph heater. This guy will be interesting to follow as Baltimore tries to make him a starter. He seems like he has a decent curveball, too.

UPDATE, 1:32 p.m.: Sarfate threw 25 pitches in that inning. Good work by the Yankees.

UPDATE, 1:43 p.m.: Xavier Nady is now 1 for 12 as a Yankee. Dan McCutchen better not turn into Joe Saunders.

UPDATE, 1:49 p.m.: Cano can be a frustrating player to watch. Just catch the ball, you don’t need to be cool. Just catch the ball.

UPDATE, 2:26 p.m.: Joba has really developed his secondary pitches in the last few weeks. If it wasn’t for Cadillac Cano, he’d have a shutout going.

UPDATE, 2:31 p.m.: Sarfate is out and Burres is in. Sarfate only allowed two hits but one was an RBI single and the other a two-run homer. All three guys he walked scored. But he’s pretty tough and I suspect he learned a lot today.

UPDATE, 2:51 p.m.: Joba has allowed two earned runs in his last 19 innings.

* * * * * JORGE POSADA UPDATE, 2:53 p.m. * * * * *

Posada had his surgery this afternoon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. Dr. David Alcheck performed the procedure, which repaired his labrum and capsule damage. It will be 4-6 weeks before he can begin light exercises. The usual recovery time for these surgeries is a minimum of six months.

See you in 2009, Jorge.

UPDATE, 2:58 p.m.: What a concept, let a good hitter like Giambi swing the bat against left-handers. Amazing. And he drives in a run.

Then The Big G goes first to third on a single. A nice defensive play, an opposite-field single against a lefty and good base-running? The ‘stache is back!

UPDATE, 3:01 p.m.: Hey, look everybody, it’s Xavier Nady.

UPDATE, 3:06 p.m.: Brilliant move by Dave Trembley, intentionally walking automatic out Melky Cabrera in a 7-2 game in the sixth inning.

UPDATE, 3:11 p.m.: And that’s what happens even you overmanage, you let Damon get to the plate with the bases loaded and he works a walk.

But throw the ball at somebody’s back or legs. Throwing at or near their head is dangerous and unprofessional.

And please don’t pretend he didn’t intend to do it. Ramirez has walked three hitters in his last 13 innings. It’s 9-2, Millar is at the plate and A-Rod was drilled yesterday. He might as well have held up a sign.

I love when managers run out to argue like they’re shocked there was an ejection.

UPDATE, 3:26 p.m.: Did you see you argued the least? Edwar. He knew exactly what he did and what was going to happen.

It’s only a matter of time the Yankees have a brawl with somebody. It’ll be this team or the Red Sox. The Yankees are clearly fixated on this stuff now. Somebody will throw up and in on a hitter in a foul mood and it’ll be go time.

UPDATE, 3:40 p.m.: That’s 23 this season and 541 for his career for his career.

11. Jackson 563
12. Schmidt 548
13. A-Rod 541

And the Yankees have awoken against the O’s, it’s 11-2.

UPDATE, 3:47 p.m.: Nady seems to have his NL swerve back. Two doubles, two RBI. Good stuff for him.

How are the Yankees 4-7 against this team? Dreadful.

UPDATE, 3:50 p.m.: Cue the “Castillo should be ejected, too!” posters. Except that he hit Molina with a slider. You don’t intentionally throw at anybody with a breaking pitch.